Election Reform

The state House of Representatives enacted voter ID into North Carolina law on Wednesday, implementing a ballot referendum approved by voters in November with the legislature’s twenty-first veto override of Governor Roy Cooper. The veto override by the state House is the General Assembly’s final legislative action enacting voter ID into North Carolina law. It […]

The ability of voting groups to form a recognized political party in North Carolina just got a whole lot easier. Senate Bill 656, the Electoral Freedom Act of 2017, lowers the threshold for establishing a recognized political party in a number of ways. The bill also makes it easier for unaffiliated candidates to participate in […]

What if you found yourself in court, suing a big company, and you learned that seven of the 12 of the jurors worked for the same company that your were suing? Would that make you wonder if the verdict might be rigged? How about the crooked politician who is facing charges of violating the State Government Ethics […]

Yesterday, the North Carolina House of Representatives passed its version of the state’s budget for the second year of this session’s biennium. The spending plan cleared the chamber by an overwhelming margin, with a bipartisan vote of 103-12. Representative Arp voted with all of his House Republican colleagues for the Budget, joining with 30 other House Democrats who also supported the […]

Tonight, the North Carolina House of Representatives passed a bipartisan State Budget by a vote of 80-35. Representative Arp voted with all of his Republican colleagues and nine moderate Democrats in support of the plan. The budget, which covers funding for Fiscal Year 2015-2016 and Fiscal Year 2016-2017, invests more in government functions — including public education […]

House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate Leader Phil Berger led a joint press conference yesterday afternoon to announce details of the $21.735 billion budget agreement reached by members of the House and Senate this past weekend. The compromise plan includes a responsible 3.1 percent spending increase, invests hundreds of millions of additional dollars in public education and other […]

It’s 7pm on Tuesday, November 8, 2016 — and there’s just half an hour left until the polls close. You’ve just moved here from New York, where they don’t have early voting like they do here in North Carolina — so, naturally you’ve waited ’til the last day to vote. You hop in your Prius and […]

The following is an open letter from Representative David Lewis, Chairman of the Committee on Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House: Beginning in 2016, an individual who wishes to cast their ballot on election day must present a North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles Photo ID, a U.S. Passport, U.S. Military ID, U.S. Veteran’s Administration Card […]

There’s nothing quite more thrilling for state government geeks (like us) than the annual publication of the General Assembly’s Summaries of Substantive Ratified Legislation. This weedy tome, of which only a few hundred are printed, is produced at the end of each legislative session by the good folks of the Research Division. The Research Division is a non-partisan central office […]